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Supporting Businesses through TechnologyWed, 12 Dec 2018 17:53:24 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8https://news.inventrium.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/cropped-app-logo-inventrium-32x32.pngInventrium Magazinehttps://news.inventrium.net
3232INSTAGRAM TIGHTENS EATING DISORDER FILTERS AFTER BBC INVESTIGATIONhttps://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/instagram-tightens-eating-disorder-filters-after-bbc-investigation/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/instagram-tightens-eating-disorder-filters-after-bbc-investigation/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 17:53:24 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14676Instagram has placed more hashtags which could promote eating disorders on an “unsearchable” list after a BBC investigation found that users were finding ways around the platform’s filters. The photo-sharing network has also added health warnings to several alternative spellings or terms which reference eating disorders, some of which are popular hashtags on the platform. […]

]]>Instagram has placed more hashtags which could promote eating disorders on an “unsearchable” list after a BBC investigation found that users were finding ways around the platform’s filters.

The photo-sharing network has also added health warnings to several alternative spellings or terms which reference eating disorders, some of which are popular hashtags on the platform.

Starting in 2012, the photo-sharing site started to make some terms unsearchable, to avoid users being able to navigate directly to often shocking images, and posts that promote the idea that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice rather than a mental illness.

If someone enters the unsearchable terms into the platform’s search box, no results will come up.

Other hashtags, when searched, will active a pop-up asking the user if they need help, with options to “learn more”, cancel the search, or view content anyway.

BBC Trending found that certain terms promoting bulimia were still searchable – and that the Instagram search bar was suggesting alternative spellings and phrasings for known terms which some see as glamorising or encouraging eating disorders

In one case, the search box offered 38 alternative spellings of a popular term.

In response to our findings, Instagram made several alternative spellings unsearchable and added several others to the list of terms which trigger the health warning. Trending is not listing the specific hashtags on the list, but Instagram said it would continue to try to restrict content which appears to encourage eating disorders and self-harm.

“We do not tolerate content that encourages eating disorders and we use powerful tools and technologies – including in-app reporting and machine learning – to help identify and remove it,” an Instagram spokesperson said in a statement.

“However, we recognize this is a complex issue and we want people struggling with their mental health to be able to access support on Instagram when and where they need it.

“We, therefore, go beyond simply removing content and hashtags and take a holistic approach by offering people looking at or posting certain content the option to access tips and support, talk to a friend, or reach out directly” to support groups, the statement said.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Bypassing filters

After Instagram and other social networks started to censor content that might encourage eating disorders, internet users attempted to navigate around the filters by deliberately misspelling commonly used eating disorder terms. The new hashtags could then be searched for on the platform.

While researching this story, we saw photos of skeletal bodies and posts that encourage extreme fasting.

Instagram, like most popular social networks, does not use moderators to proactively search for content that is against its rules. Instead it relies on other users to report violations.

]]>https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/instagram-tightens-eating-disorder-filters-after-bbc-investigation/feed/0WORD PROCESSOR PIONEER EVELYN BEREZIN DIES AGED 93https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/word-processor-pioneer-evelyn-berezin-dies-aged-93/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/word-processor-pioneer-evelyn-berezin-dies-aged-93/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 17:44:56 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14671The woman who created and sold what many recognise as the world’s first word processor has died aged 93. Evelyn Berezin called the device the Data Secretary when, in 1971, her company Redactron launched the product. She grew Redactron from nine employees to close to 500 and was named one of the US’s top leaders […]

terminals for a horse-racing track that monitored how much money was being bet on each animal

Screenless editing

In an interview in 2015, Ms Berezin explained that she had decided to set up her own business in the mid-60s after coming to the conclusion that her prospects were limited so long as she was employed by someone else.

She said that she had initially considered developing an electronic cash register but ultimately opted to create what would become known as a word processor instead.

She said: “6% of all the people in the United States who worked were secretaries.

“At the time we started, which was in 1968 to 1969, nobody really had any desk-type computers on which you could write a word-processing program that a secretary would use.

“I know that desktop computers seem obvious now but it wasn’t so then.”

At the time, the nearest equivalent was a machine by IBM called the MT/ST – a typewriter with magnetic tape recording and playback facilities.

IBM’s marketing referred to a “word processor”, but the machine relied on relay switches rather than computer chips, had been targeted at military equipment makers rather than the wider business market, and in Ms Berezin’s mind was “klutzy”.

“We were committed to building a computer to run our system and we knew that we had to use integrated circuits because it was the only way we could make it small enough and cheap enough and reliable enough to sell,” Ms Berezin said.

Her machine – which stood about 1m (3ft 3in) tall – featured a keyboard, cassette drives, control electronics and a printer.

It could record and play back what the user had typed, allowing it to be edited or reprinted.

The original model lacked a monitor, and soon faced competition from a rival, the Lexitron, which did.

But later versions of the Data Secretary did include a screen.

Image copyrightEYEVINE/NEW YORK TIMESImage captionSome versions of the Data Secretary did feature a screen

Sparks and water

The project nearly ended in disaster.

Ms Berezin had intended to buy the processors required from Intel, which had gone into business in 1968. But it said it was too busy dealing with orders for its memory chips.

The solution was that Redactron had to design some of the chips required itself and provide the schematics to two manufacturers.

There were further problems with a prototype when it was put on display in a New York hotel for reporters to see.

The issue was that in dry weather, it was prone to a build-up of static electricity, which caused sparks to fly between its circuits, preventing it from working.

“To our horror it was a dry day and the engineers were setting this non-working machine up for our big story,” Ms Berezin said.

“Ed Wolf [our head of engineering brought] a full pail of water and without a word to anyone throws the pail of water over the whole thick carpet in the room.

“The water sank into the carpet, which stayed damp for three or four hours, and the machine worked perfectly.”

Image copyright@MKIRSCHENBAUM

The first production machine was delivered to a customer in September 1971. And over the following year, Redactron sold or rented more than 770 others, excluding demo units.

Over the following years, demand grew but the company’s finances came under strain, in part because of high interest rates and a recession that meant clients wanted to rent rather than buy its products.

“We were told by the bank to sell the company and they had somebody they knew who was interested,” said Ms Berezin.

“At the time, I was distraught about it.”

She went to work for the purchaser, the business equipment-maker Burroughs Corporation. But it proved to be an ill match.

“I was not one of them – I told them what I thought – a loud woman they did not know how to deal with,” she said.

“So, they disconnected and so did I.”

Ms Berezin left the company around 1980, after which she became involved in venture capital and sat on other companies’ boards before becoming involved with Stony Brook University.

]]>https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/word-processor-pioneer-evelyn-berezin-dies-aged-93/feed/0ROBOT TURNS OUT TO BE MAN IN SUIThttps://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/robot-turns-out-to-be-man-in-suit/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/robot-turns-out-to-be-man-in-suit/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 17:42:34 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14669A robot on show at a Russian state-sponsored event has turned out to be a man dressed in a costume. Robot Boris featured on Russian TV and was apparently able to walk, talk and dance. But soon after its appearance journalists began to question the bot’s authenticity. In a picture published afterwards on social media, […]

]]>https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/robot-turns-out-to-be-man-in-suit/feed/0LENOVO YOGA BOOK C930 REVIEWTHE UK’S INQUIRY INTO FAKE NEWS IS FOCUSED ON A LONG-DEAD BIKINI-FINDING APPhttps://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/lenovo-yoga-book-c930-reviewthe-uks-inquiry-into-fake-news-is-focused-on-a-long-dead-bikini-finding-app/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/lenovo-yoga-book-c930-reviewthe-uks-inquiry-into-fake-news-is-focused-on-a-long-dead-bikini-finding-app/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 17:32:38 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14665On Saturday, the Observer published an article describing a rather incredible caper that took place in the United Kingdom. As part of an ongoing inquiry into fake news, Parliament seized a cache of documents obtained during legal discovery in a case mounted by an app developer against Facebook in an unrelated matter in the United States. Carole Cadwalladr, […]

]]>On Saturday, the Observer published an article describing a rather incredible caper that took place in the United Kingdom. As part of an ongoing inquiry into fake news, Parliament seized a cache of documents obtained during legal discovery in a case mounted by an app developer against Facebook in an unrelated matter in the United States.

Carole Cadwalladr, who rose to prominence this year as one of the journalists who broke the Cambridge Analytica story, has the tale:

Damian Collins, the chair of the culture, media and sport select committee, invoked a rare parliamentary mechanism to compel the founder of a US software company, Six4Three, to hand over the documents during a business trip to London. In another exceptional move, parliament sent a serjeant at arms to his hotel with a final warning and a two-hour deadline to comply with its order. When the software firm founder failed to do so, it’s understood he was escorted to parliament. He was told he risked fines and even imprisonment if he didn’t hand over the documents.

“We are in uncharted territory,” said Collins, who also chairs an inquiry into fake news. “This is an unprecedented move but it’s an unprecedented situation. We’ve failed to get answers from Facebook and we believe the documents contain information of very high public interest.”

What, exactly, might be of interest here? In the Wall Street Journal, Deepa Seetharaman catches us up on Six4Three and why it’s suing Facebook:

The Six4Three lawsuit stemmed from Facebook’s decision in 2014 to stop giving outside developers broad access to information about users’ friends. The move was a harsh blow to developers, forcing a number of apps to shut down, while Facebook argued it helped bolster user privacy.

Six4Three was the developer of an app called Pikinis, which allowed its users to find photos of Facebook users in bathing suits. It ceased operation in 2015 because of Facebook’s decision to curtail access to its users’ data, according to the lawsuit.

The 2014 changes were, of course, the ones designed to tamp down on the kind of invasive third-party data harvesting that would eventually come back to bite Facebook this year with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

What makes the seizure of documents strange is that so little of the Cambridge Analytica story is, at this late date, in dispute. We know what data was made available to third-party developers before 2014. We know Facebook gradually became uncomfortable with how these developers were exploiting its users. We know they deliberated about it internally and eventually shut off the spigot.

Seetharaman suggests that it is these deliberations that are of interest to Collins. And perhaps some spicy emails will see the light of day. But it’s hard to square the facts of the case with the way the document cache is presented in the Observer, which is as a development somewhere on the level of the Pentagon Papers.

And in any case, it remains unclear what 2014 data privacy discussions have to do with Collins’ inquiry, which is supposed to be investigating the impact of fake news. The inquiry, which began in 2017, produced an interim report in July. Perhaps the document cache will link data privacy and fake news. Or perhaps a politician is simply casting about looking for new cudgels with which to beat Facebook in front of television cameras.

Collins’ committee will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, and may discuss the cache of documents then. (Mark Zuckerberg was invited to go, and declined.) But as we waited for those internal communications to become public, a new court filing introduced a rather amazing twist.

]]>https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/lenovo-yoga-book-c930-reviewthe-uks-inquiry-into-fake-news-is-focused-on-a-long-dead-bikini-finding-app/feed/0LENOVO YOGA BOOK C930 REVIEWhttps://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/lenovo-yoga-book-c930-review/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/lenovo-yoga-book-c930-review/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 17:21:39 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14662We had some reservations about the Lenovo Yoga Book last year when we reviewed it, as the ambitious hybrid tablet introduced some rather intriguing concepts – most notably, ditching the classic physical keyboard for a razor-thin, touch-sensitive one. With this year’s successor, Lenovo has revamped its peculiar keyboard implementation, replacing it with a new e-ink screen, while […]

]]>We had some reservations about the Lenovo Yoga Book last year when we reviewed it, as the ambitious hybrid tablet introduced some rather intriguing concepts – most notably, ditching the classic physical keyboard for a razor-thin, touch-sensitive one. With this year’s successor, Lenovo has revamped its peculiar keyboard implementation, replacing it with a new e-ink screen, while also giving its light-weight laptop the necessary upgrade to a more formidable processor. At a whopping $1049.99, the Lenovo Yoga Book C930 finds itself in a totally different competing market – so it’ll be interesting to find out if it’s any better than the alternatives in this price range.

Design

Recycling the same futuristic design that we saw introduced with last year’s model, the Lenovo Yoga Book C930 looks just as intriguing. For a hybrid, it’s incredibly lightweight and slim, making it the perfect companion when you want to mix pleasure and productivity while being on the road. And because it’s part of the Yoga family and features that eye-catching hinge, it can be used in three different modes – laptop, tablet, or tent.

What’s new here is that the Lenovo Yoga Book C930 features a dynamic e-ink screen, which acts as the keyboard and trackpad when it’s used in the traditional laptop mode. Indeed, this touch-based experience isn’t for everyone, and we find ourselves operating at a slower pace compared to when using a physical keyboard. However, we feel as though our rate of typing could be increased if there was an auto-correct option, but it’s only available when using the usual Windows on-screen keyboard. And finally, since it’s an e-ink screen with no backlighting, typing in the dark is nearly impossible.

In any event, we still value the device’s compact size and light-weight feel! Those two qualities alone make it an attractive offering for anyone looking to travel light. Additionally, it houses TWO USB 3.1 Type-C ports, 2 speakers with Dolby Atmos support, a fingerprint sensor for unlocking, and a microSD card slot. Due to its incredible thinness, however, there’s no headphone jack, which is a bummer in a way.

Display

As for the C930’s main display, it’s a 10.8-inch QHD 2560 x 1600 IPS display that looks substantially sharper than what was put in with last year’s model. There’s very little distortion when looking at it from slight angles, which is great, and it’s complemented by its ability to produce rich and vibrant color tones. It may not be the brightest screen around in its size range, but we find that it’s still more than usable for reading.

Speaking of that secondary e-ink display, it’s even more suitable for reading because it doesn’t strain our eyes when staring at it for longer periods of time, which is a characteristic of e-ink displays in general. However, it’s fairly limited in what it can do because for now, it’s mainly reserved for note-taking, drawing, and viewing of PDF files. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support any e-book file formats – so to that degree, it doesn’t replace a true e-reader.

Nevertheless, the e-ink display here is useful in the way that it replicates the paper-meets-pen experience, so if you’re apt to that more than typing, the option is here with the included Lenovo Active Pen, which has 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. And even though there’s technically no placeholder for the Pen within the Yoga Book C930, it features a magnetic connection that keeps it firmly tethered to the casing when it’s not being used.

Interface and functionality

The Lenovo Yoga Book C930 is only being made available as a Windows 10 offering. We wouldn’t miss having an Android-based option since Windows 10 has significantly more potential for productivity. What’s nice is that the C930 bridges the tablet and laptop experience, seeing that we can quickly go from using it in traditional laptop mode to full tablet mode by swiveling the display. Even better is the fact that it can do just about anything! From surfing the web to editing video and even some gaming, the Lenovo Yoga C930 offers the same level of versatility that other Windows based hybrids offer.

The Lenovo Yoga Book C930 is only being made available as a Windows 10 offering

While Lenovo’s convertible can indeed perform the same functions and tasks as other laptops, it isn’t necessarily as effective at those. Because of its unique dual-display configuration, there are some challenges to using its e-ink display for typing. It gets the job done, offering a subtle vibration feedback when keys are pressed, but it can’t match the convenience we get from traditional laptops and hybrids with physical keyboards. There’s still room for improvement to enhance the typing experience, such as adding auto-correct based on contextual clues in what we’re typing.

Adding to its productivity value, you can actually switch the e-ink screen from its keyboard mode to either the pdf reader or sketch pad at any time by pressing the corresponding icons in the top right area. It’s useful in the way that you can be reading something with the main display while also jotting down notes using the e-ink display. And speaking of that, if you flip it into tablet mode with the e-ink facing upwards, the main screen will power down and you can save more power by using the e-ink screen by itself. Furthermore, you can leverage the Windows Ink Workspace app with the Lenovo Active Pen to draw sketches, add stick notes to the desktop, and more. The e-ink screen doesn’t support additional apps or software, and there’s no indication that it will offer any support down the road either.

If you’re willing to invest more patience into adapting to its unique keyboard, you may be surprised by its utility.

Processor and Performance

You can say goodbye to Intel Atom and hello to a 7th generation Intel Core i5 Y-series CPU! This is a tremendous upgrade that undeniably offers more power for getting things done on the road. In the past, Atom-based hybrids we’ve tried out struggled to handle 4K video editing, but we can say that it’s not a problem here with the Yoga Book C930, which is accompanied by 4GB of RAM. In fact, there wasn’t much stutter or lag when editing 4K clips on the fly using Cyberlink’s PowerDirector 17.

Even with a super skinny frame, inside the device there’s room for a generous 256GB SSD that offers enough storage out of the gate. There’s expansion courtesy of a microSD card slot, but it’s annoying that it isn’t easily accessible because it requires a SIM ejector tool to access.

Camera

Lenovo chose to slap the Yoga Book C930 with only a single 2MP camera that’s placed above the main display – reserving it mostly for video chatting and whatnot. Gone completely is the “main” camera from last year’s model, which means that you won’t be able to properly snap photos. We’re not particularly bummed by the omission, but we can understand how others may feel compelled to using a tablet to snap photos when there’s nothing else around.

Image Quality

Not surprisingly, there’s nothing too great with the performance out of the 2MP camera. We wouldn’t even bother using it for selfies either, since its shots are muddy-looking in general. For Skyping or video chatting, it certainly is good enough to use, but that’s about the extent of its usefulness. Given how the fingerprint sensor has replaced the “rear” camera that came with last year’s offering, it’s a compromise we’re willing to agree with.

Battery life

You wouldn’t expect something so thin and light to deliver outstanding results when it comes to battery life, but that’s the reality with the Lenovo Yoga Book C930. In our day-to-day experience, its battery delivers enough longevity to provide an entire day’s worth of basic productivity, which consists mostly of email replies, surfing the web, listening to music, and light word processing. When it comes to heavier things like video editing, we easily get 6 hours of heavy usage from a full charge. If you’re the kind to periodically use a laptop, this is something that’ll easily get you through a weekend.

Conclusion

With this year’s model, Lenovo enhances the Yoga Book to make it even more functional. Switching to an e-ink display that transforms from a dynamic keyboard to a canvas for all of our note-taking and drawing needs, this Windows 10-powered hybrid offers significantly more functionality than its Android predecessor. But then again, its superiority is reflected by its higher price of $1049.99.

In the space right now, the Lenovo Yoga Book C930 is unlike anything else, which – combined with its pricey cost – can make it a tough sell over other comparable models. Take for instance the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 that starts at $899 sans keyboard (+$129.99 for the keyboard). The Surface Pro 6 offers the better 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor. However, the Yoga Book C930 is an option worth considering because it bridges the tablet and mobile laptop experiences together – just as long as you have some patience in learning and acquiring a taste for its keyboard.

]]>https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/lenovo-yoga-book-c930-review/feed/0PICHAI PUTS KIBOSH ON GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE FOR CHINAhttps://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/pichai-puts-kibosh-on-google-search-engine-for-china/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/pichai-puts-kibosh-on-google-search-engine-for-china/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 17:08:04 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14659Google is not working on a bespoke search engine that caters to China’s totalitarian tastes, and it has no plans to develop one, CEO Sundar Pichai told lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “Right now, we have no plans to launch in China,” he told members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee at a public hearing […]

]]>Google is not working on a bespoke search engine that caters to China’s totalitarian tastes, and it has no plans to develop one, CEO Sundar Pichai told lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

“Right now, we have no plans to launch in China,” he told members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee at a public hearing on Google’s data collection, use and filtering practices.

“We don’t have a search product there,” he said. “Our core mission is to provide users access to information, and getting access to information is an important human right.”

Pichai acknowledged that the company had assigned some 100 workers to develop a search engine for totalitarian countries, however.

“We explored what search would look like if it were to be launched in a country like China,” he revealed.

A report about a Google search engine for China appeared in The Intercept this summer.

The project, code-named “Dragonfly,” had been under way since the spring of 2017, according to the report, but development picked up after Pichai met with Chinese government officials about a year ago.

Special Android apps also had been developed for the Chinese market, The Intercept stated, and had been demonstrated to the Chinese government for a possible rollout this year.

“We certainly hope they abandoned those plans,” said Chris Calabrese, vice president for policy for the Center for Democracy & Technology, an individual rights advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

“We didn’t think it was a good idea to build a search engine that would censor speech in order to go into the Chinese market,” he told the E-Commerce Times.

Google may have been testing the waters with its Chinese browser, maintained Russell Newman, assistant professor for the Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College in Boston.

“It’s an example of a firm seeing how far down the road it can go before it receives pushback,” he told the E-Commerce Times. “It discovers a limit, then pushes that limit a little more. I’d be surprised if they wholly gave up on the search engine for China.”

Mission: Protecting Privacy

In his opening remarks to the committee, Pichai declared that protecting the privacy and security of its users was an essential part of Google’s mission.

“We have invested an enormous amount of work over the years to bring choice, transparency and control to our users. These values are built into every product we make,” he said.

“We recognize the important role of governments, including this committee, in setting rules for the development and use of technology,” Pichai added. “To that end, we support federal privacy legislation and proposed a legislative framework for privacy earlier this year.”

Pichai also addressed a burning issue for Republican members of the panel.

“I lead this company without political bias and work to ensure that our products continue to operate that way,” he said. “To do otherwise would go against our core principles and our business interests.”

‘Bias Running Amok’

Among the Republicans on the committee who raised the issue of unfairness with respect to the way Google’s search algorithm treats conservative views was Mike Johnson, R-La.

“My conservative colleagues and I are fierce advocates of limited government, and we’re also committed guardians of free speech and the free marketplace of ideas,” he told Pichai.

“We do not want to impose burdensome government regulations on your industry,” Johnson continued. “However, we do believe we have an affirmative duty to ensure that the engine that processes as much as … 90 percent of all Internet searches, is never unfairly used to unfairly censor conservative viewpoints or suppress political views.”

Political bias is running amok at Google, charged committee member Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.

“You’re so surrounded by liberality that hates conservatism, hates people that really love our Constitution and the freedoms that it’s afforded people like you, that you don’t even recognize it,” he told Pichai, who was born in India.

“It’s like a blind man not even knowing what light looks like because you’re surrounded by darkness,” Gohmert added.

Despite Republican claims of liberal bias in Google’s algorithm, “there isn’t any evidence to back that up empirically,” Calabrese said.

Market Dominance

Committee members also were concerned about Google’s market dominance.

“I’m deeply concerned by reports of Google’s discriminatory conduct in the market for Internet search,” said David Cicilline, D-R.I.

Google has harmed competition in Europe by favoring its own products and services over rivals, and by deprioritizing or delisting its competitors’ content, he noted citing European Commission findings.

“It is important for the U.S. government to follow the lead of other countries and closely examine the market dominance of Google and Facebook, including their impact on industries such as news media,” observed David Chavern, CEO of the News Media Alliance in Arlington, Va., a trade association representing some 2,000 newspapers in the United States and Canada.

“We will continue to urge for more hearings to examine ways in which the duopoly impacts the business of journalism, which is essential to democracy and civic society,” he told the E-Commerce Times.

Prelude to Privacy Law

House and Senate hearings in recent months are just the prelude to data privacy legislation that could be introduced next year.

“We’re certainly going to see a wide variety of comprehensive privacy bills filed, and I think we’ll make some progress,” Calabrese said.

“Advocates have seen the need for privacy legislation for a long time,” he said, “and now that we have privacy legislation set to kick in in California in 2020, there’s a lot of companies who would rather be governed by a federal law than they would a bunch of different state laws.”

If a general privacy law is enacted, it shouldn’t use Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation as a model, maintained Alan McQuinn, senior policy analyst for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a public policy and technology innovation organization in Washington, D.C.

“We don’t want to see the GDPR enacted here in the states,” he told the E-Commerce Times.

“It is highly likely to create a drag on the European economy and hurt innovation and businesses,” McQuinn explained.

Privacy rules should be styled to fit industries, such as healthcare, finance and commerce, he suggested.

“The sector-specific approach that the U.S. has taken toward privacy has allowed for more innovation,” McQuinn noted, “and created the powerhouse of the digital economy that we have here.”

]]>https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/pichai-puts-kibosh-on-google-search-engine-for-china/feed/0SONY MOBILE ANNOUNCES PLANS TO LAY OFF 200 EMPLOYEES IN EUROPEhttps://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/sony-mobile-announces-plans-to-lay-off-200-employees-in-europe-2/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/sony-mobile-announces-plans-to-lay-off-200-employees-in-europe-2/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 17:00:23 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14656After years of declining sales and increased losses, Sony confirmed back in October that it would proceed with cost-cutting measures associated with its smartphone business. Today, after a couple of reports, Sony has announced that it will be laying off up to 200 employees in Europe. According to the Japanese brand, all of these workers are based at […]

After years of declining sales and increased losses, Sony confirmed back in October that it would proceed with cost-cutting measures associated with its smartphone business. Today, after a couple of reports, Sony has announced that it will be laying off up to 200 employees in Europe.

According to the Japanese brand, all of these workers are based at the mobile division’s former HQ in Lund, Sweden. Here, the company currently employs around 800 full-time workers and a further 400 people through external contractors. The dismissals only affect full-time employees, though, and while the exact details haven’t yet been confirmed, Sony did state that everything should be finalized by the end of March 2019.

Over the course of the next few years, Sony hopes to continue cuttings costs by up to 50%. Additionally, it recently forecasted losses through the first half of 2020. But if all goes to plan and 5G brings the boom that Sony is expecting, the mobile division could eventually become profitable.

In the meantime, the company is showing no signs of slowing down. After announcing the flagship Xperia XZ3 back in August, leaked renders have revealed that the company is already hard at work on a new Xperia XZ4 and XZ4 Compact. In addition to this, the Xperia XA3 and XA3 Ultra are apparently in the pipeline, as is a budget Xperia L3.

]]>https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/sony-mobile-announces-plans-to-lay-off-200-employees-in-europe-2/feed/0AT&T PLANS BUYING GUIDE: WHICH ONE IS THE BEST FOR YOUR NEEDS?https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/att-plans-buying-guide-which-one-is-the-best-for-your-needs/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/att-plans-buying-guide-which-one-is-the-best-for-your-needs/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 16:55:33 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14652So, you’ve been thinking about biting the gun and becoming an AT&T customer? Good thinking, but which plan to choose? Clearly, the abundance of options in AT&T’s roster don’t make the choice any easy, but we are here to help. A couple of weeks ago, we walked you through all the different plans in Verizon’s […]

So, you’ve been thinking about biting the gun and becoming an AT&T customer?

Good thinking, but which plan to choose? Clearly, the abundance of options in AT&T’s roster don’t make the choice any easy, but we are here to help.

A couple of weeks ago, we walked you through all the different plans in Verizon’s lobby, but now it’s time to subject AT&T to the same treatment.

Unlimited plans

AT&T Unlimited Plus Enhanced and AT&T Unlimited Choice Enhanced

Ever since AT&T caved in and finally offered truly unlimited plans last year, its Unlimited Plus Enhanced plan has positioned itself as the most-loaded out plan. This plan is perfect for families due to the flexibility of the included line options and the loadout of features, compromise with speed, streaming quality, or the ability to use a mobile hotspot.

Meanwhile, AT&T Unlimited Choice Enhanced is mostly the same unlimited data/text/voice calls ordeal, but it comes with less features and is a bit more affordable. Both plans are perfect for family usage scenarios, and choosing one over the other would highly depend on your stance towards video streaming quality, mobile hotspot, and speed throttling.

Here’s a rundown of the pricing of the different lines, and after that we’d rundown other notable features of the plan. Note that the prices below have AutoPay and Paperless billing discounts applied to them.

Plan

1 line

2 lines

3 lines

4 lines

Any additional line

AT&T Unlimited & More Premium

$80*

$75 per line

$57 per line

$48 per line

–

$80/mo

$150/mo

$170/mo

$190/mo

+$30/mo

AT&T Unlimited & More

$70

$63

$49

$40

$70/mo

$125/mo

$145/mo

$160/mo

+$30/mo

* – Prices after discount with AutoPay and Paperless billing.

It’s obvious that the more, the merrier.

As you can see, once you start adding new lines to the AT&T Unlimited Plus Enhanced plan, prices become more and more affordable, making them more and more palatable for the regular family of up to four out there, and overall, a better deal.

With prices out of the way, let’s see what the two unlimited data plans offer as far as data allotments, features, and speeds are concerned.

Plan

LTE Data

Speed throttling

Video streaming

Hotspot

TV

AT&T Unlimited & More Premium

Unlimited

Yes, temporarily at busy times after using >22/GB per line/mo

HD, up to 1080p (may be limited to SD after using >22GB/line/mo)

Yes, up to 15GB

$15/mo discount on DIRECTV or DIRECTV NOW

AT&T Unlimited & More

Unlimited

Yes, at busy times

SD, up to 480p

No

$15/mo discount on DIRECTV NOW

Common strengths of both plans:

Free HBO for life: Both plans give you HBO for life. That’s undoubtedly a boon for all fans of A+ TV shows from the likes of Game of Thrones, Westworld, The Wire and many others as HBO has one of the most loaded-out subscription services out there. Have in mind that the actual promotion will start within 2 monthly billing cycles. Of course, if you drop your Unlimited Choice or Plus plan, you automatically forfeit the HBO benefit.

Unlimited roaming in Mexico & Canada: Pretty self-explanatory, but with either Unlimited Plus or Choice you get unlimited roaming in both neighboring countries.

Unlimited texting from USA to 120+ countries: With either Unlimited Plus or Choice you can text, send pictures and video messages via MMS to more than 120 countries around the globe at no extra cost.

AT&T THANKS: AT&T’s benefit program allows you to get insider access to special events, various forms of entertainment like movies and music, as well as get expert help, and many others at no extra cost. The majority of these benefits can be explored and used from the dedicated AT&T THANKS app on the app stores.

Military discounts: If you’re qualified military personnel or a veteran you get 15% discount at every monthly bill.

Our verdict: If you want the absolute best unlimited plan on AT&T, you should certainly go for Unlimited Plus Enhanced. It has the most bells and whistles and you shouldn’t worry about throttling that much. Well, at least until you don’t go over 22GB of LTE data per line per month as you’re likely to experience temporary throttling at busier times. Additionally, the 15GB mobile hotspot allotments is well worth it, especially if you use your device to cast Internet in your immediate vicinity. Conversely, if you’re perfectly fine with a bit more throttling in busier time windows and don’t use your device as a mobile hotspot, you will also be fine with AT&T Unlimited Choice Enhanced.

Limited & Prepaid Data plans

If you’re looking for something else than an unlimited data plan, AT&T’s prepaid ones are here to help. But which one to choose – the eponymous AT&T Prepaid plans or the Mobile Share Flex ones? Let’s highlight all the features and intricate differences and help you make up your mind.

AT&T Prepaid

The good ol’ Prepaid plans are a perfect match for people that value flexibility over anything else. With no annual plan, credit check, or even an activation fee in sight, it’s as close as you can get to freedom when dealing with large corporations. You can have AT&T Prepaid in a variety of flavors, ranging from $30 to $85 per month, depending on your loadout and discounts. Here’s a rundown of the prices and features:

No matter which plan you choose, we highly recommend enrolling into the AutoPay program, which will automatically charge your eligible credit or debit card every billing period. With AutoPay, you eliminate the possibility of having your service terminated after not paying on time. That’s a great thing to have on its own, but the discount on the prepaid plans is another boon to consumers’ wallets.

You can save even more if you bundle multiple prepaid plans together. For a second and a third additional lines, you get $10 off on your total monthly bill, while for a fourth and fifth additional line you get $20 off. This means that you can save up to $110 per month if you combine five Prepaid Unlimited Plus plans, or $1,320 per annum. You can check out the interactive AT&T configurator right here.

Our verdict: From the get-go, we wouldn’t recommend the $65/mo plan as it’s pretty hampered when compared to the others. Sure, it comes with unlimited data in tow, but we don’t like the lack of mobile tethering functionality as well as its inability to stream 1080p video. Albeit pricier, the top unlimited data plan is definitely better value on all fronts. When it comes to the ‘cheaplings’, it all comes to whether you can live with as low as a gigabyte of fast-speed data per month and whether you travel to Mexico and Canada often – if no, you should probably go for the $40/mo plan, but if you are okay with less data and no free-of-charge roaming allotment.

]]>Selling location data collected by mobile phones has become a lucrative business, The New York Times reported Monday.

Location advertising sales are expected to reach US$21 billion this year, according to the article. At least 75 companies receive anonymous, precise location data from applications with the location services feature activated.

Several of those outfits claim to track 200 million mobile devices in the United States — about half of all devices in the country, the Times reported.

The data is very accurate, coming within a few yards of a person’s whereabouts at a point in time, and is updated often — as frequently as 14,000 times a day, the paper noted.

With that kind of accuracy and frequency, calling the data “anonymous” is a bit misleading.

“If you are collecting a person’s location over time, and it’s tied to a unique identifier, it’s disingenuous to call that anonymous,” said Natasha Duarte, a policy analyst with the Center for Democracy & Technology in Washington, D.C.

“If you have information about where people are going and where people live, you can build the story of who that location data belongs to,” she told TechNewsWorld.

Someone can learn a lot about you from your location, said French Caldwell, CFO of The Analyst Syndicate, an IT research and analysis group.

“They can tell what your interests are and who you’re meeting with,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Your location data tells more about you than your Social Security number.”

Businesses that collect consumer data typically say they’re not interested in individuals but in patterns. Data collected on individuals is “anonymized” by attaching it to an ID number. However, that ID doesn’t even have the cover of a fig leaf for anyone with access to raw location data.

Those people, who include employees or customers of the data collector, still could identify individuals without their consent, as the Times did in compiling its report.

Not surprisingly, the leaders in location-based advertising are Google and Facebook. Both companies offer mobile apps that they use to collect location data. They say they don’t sell it but use it only internally, to personalize services, sell targeted ads online, and determine if the ads lead to sales in the physical world.

Google did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Facebook, through spokesperson Jay Nancarrow, declined to comment.

Some large companies have started to get in front of the location data issue before it becomes a problem for them. For example, Verizon and AT&T announced during the summer that they would stop selling their customers’ location data to data brokers.

Deceptive Omissions

Most mobile apps request permission to use a device’s location services before accessing them, but the Times found that process could be misleading. An app might ask for location services access for one purpose but use the information for multiple purposes.

“Not all app notices are perfectly clear as to what location data is being used for,” CDT’s Duarte said.

“Often the app will ask, ‘Do you want us to use your location to provide you with local weather information, or personalize your experience, or improve the accuracy of the maps that you’re using?’ They don’t list all the other purposes the data will be used for — like advertising and sales to third parties,” she pointed out.

Some 1,400 popular applications contain code to share location information, the Times reported. About 1,200 were written for Android phones and 200 for Apple models.

In a sample of 17 apps sending precise location data, three Apple iOS programs and one Android offering mentioned that location data could be used for advertising while seeking permission to access the service, the Times found.

Creepiness Factor

Understanding what’s done with location data can be an onerous task for a consumer. It requires reading user agreements and privacy policies, and changing settings for all the apps on a phone.

“That can be incredibly time-consuming,” Duarte said. “No individual has the capacity to do that properly, and it’s not a burden we should be placing on individuals to depend on location-based services.”

How concerned are consumers about possible abuse of their location information?

“Most consumers don’t care, but there’s a creepiness factor that bothers them a little bit,” said The Analyst Syndicate’s Caldwell.

“We’ve all been on the Web and looked at a new pair of shoes or something, and all of sudden all you see in your browser for hours are ads for those things,” he continued.

“The same kind of thing is happening with your physical location,” Caldwell pointed out. “Stores are tracking your location and will start pushing suggestions to you based on where you went in that store. There’s a creepiness factor there.”

Legislation Needed

Consumers are very concerned about what’s being done with their location data, maintained Duarte.

“The problem isn’t that consumers are not concerned,” she said.

“It’s that even if you’re very concerned, it’s impossible for anyone to have the capacity and time to understand all the things companies are doing with your data, and then go into your settings and make the choices that align perfectly with your personal privacy interests,” Duarte explained.

“What really needs to happen is for our laws to recognize that location privacy in a commercial context has to be built into any service,” she suggested.

Congress should pass a commercial privacy law, “which would include limits on how companies can collect and use location information,” Duarte said.

Such a law might include provisions already adopted in Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, which allow people to access information companies have collected about them, correct information if it’s used to make important decisions about them, and delete information.

One area where U.S. lawmakers may want to depart from the GDPR is in consent. The European rule allows data to be collected if consent is given by the owner of the data.

“Some uses of information shouldn’t be allowed even with consent,” Duarte said. “One of those uses might be repurposing of location information — collecting the information for a location-based service, then reusing it for something completely unrelated — like location-based advertising — or selling it to a data broker.”

]]>https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/location-data-selling-threatens-consumer-privacy/feed/0HUAWEI CFO FREED ON $7.5 MILLION USD BAIL, TRUMP MAY INTERVENEhttps://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/huawei-cfo-freed-on-7-5-million-usd-bail-trump-may-intervene-2/
https://news.inventrium.net/2018/12/12/huawei-cfo-freed-on-7-5-million-usd-bail-trump-may-intervene-2/#respondWed, 12 Dec 2018 16:41:07 +0000http://news.inventrium.net/?p=14646Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, whose arrest in Canada two Saturdays ago increased tensions between the U.S. and China, has been freed on bail. The amount of the bail agreed to by the judge was $10 million Canadian Dollars, the equivalent of $7.5 million U.S. Dollars. According to Bloomberg and CNBC, the bail was met by her husband and […]

]]>Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, whose arrest in Canada two Saturdays ago increased tensions between the U.S. and China, has been freed on bail. The amount of the bail agreed to by the judge was $10 million Canadian Dollars, the equivalent of $7.5 million U.S. Dollars. According to Bloomberg and CNBC, the bail was met by her husband and four former colleagues who together pledged cash and home equity. Meng was jailed based on a U.S. warrant for her arrest after an investigation allegedly found that she had defrauded banks to help Huawei do business with Iran. That action would be in violation of U.S. sanctions against the country. The U.S. charges that Huawei used a small Hong Kong based tech firm called Skycom to do business with Iran.

The U.S. had requested no bail for the executive, who still faces extradition to the states. As part of the bail agreement, Meng will surrender her passport, wear a GPS tracking device, and will have a security team beside her whenever she goes out (paid for by Meng). Police will also make unannounced visits to her residence. Her family does own homes in Vancouver, where she was arrested.

UPDATE: President Donald Trump told Reuters today that he would intervene in Meng’s case with the U.S. Justice Department if it helps the U.S. close a trade deal with China, or if it serves national security interests.

The arrest threatened talks between the U.S. and China to end a trade war between the two countries. In addition, the U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, was chewed out this past weekend by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng. Le also threatened Canada by warning of “grave consequences” if Ming wasn’t released.

Ming is the daughter of Huawei’s founder. Despite being called a national security threat by the U.S. government, the company is the leading provider of networking equipment and is the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world after Samsung.